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Because of strong public attraction to water resources, acquisition of any additional public water <br />frontage identified in a Council -approved master plan should be given a very high priority. The high <br />demand and rapidly escalating value of water frontage will only make those lands more costly in the <br />future. The priority is to acquire water frontage lands when they are most affordable - when they are <br />undeveloped or, at least, developed with less expensive homes. Trying to convert land with water <br />frontage to public use after it's been fully developed is politically difficult and very expensive. <br />Siting and Acquisition - Strategy 3: New regional trails must serve a regional audience <br />and provide connections between regional parks, park reserves, and regional trails <br />without duplicating an existing trail. <br />To qualify for regional trail status, an existing or proposed trail: <br />• must serve a regional audience, based on visitor origin and service -area research on regional <br />trails <br />• should not duplicate an existing trail, and <br />• should connect two or more units of the Regional Parks System <br />The trail may include part of an existing county or local trail if it is a destination itself, providing a high - <br />quality recreation experience that traverses significant natural resource areas where the trail treadway <br />will have no adverse impact on the natural resource base, and/or it links two or more units of the <br />Regional Parks System. <br />The regional trail system in the metropolitan area is like the highway system, with regional and local <br />components. The regional component consists of trails in the regional trail system and state <br />administered trails. These trails are complemented by shorter, local trails, which may eventually feed <br />into units of the regional trail system. The opportunities for interesting regional trail recreation <br />experiences are substantially enhanced where local trails intersect with or are reached by elements of <br />the regional system. <br />The Council has defined two major types of trails to serve the region: 1) destination or greenway trails <br />and 2) linking trails. Destination or greenway trails typically follow along routes with high -quality natural <br />resources, which make the trail itself a destination. Linking trails, on the other hand, are predominately <br />intended to provide linkages between various Regional Parks System units, most notably regional <br />parks or park reserves. <br />Destination Regional Trails or Greenways should be located to reasonably maximize the amount of <br />high -quality natural resources within the trail corridor boundaries. For destination regional trails or <br />greenways, there should be no spacing minimums or maximums between them; instead, the decision <br />to locate the trail should be based on the availability of existing high -quality natural resources or the <br />opportunity to restore, enhance, protect, or re-create natural resources. <br />The main criterion used to define regional parks and park reserves - the presence of high -quality <br />natural resources - is also relevant to the location of a destination regional trail or greenway. Attractive <br />settings contribute strongly to the quality of trail recreational experience. Since trails or greenways are <br />